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Thursday, February 5, 2015

Da(ahhhh)vos

We've already been in Davos for a week and a half and even though I'm very excited to head to Sweden, it's going to be a little tough to leave this winter wonderland. We've had significant snowfall almost every day we've been in Davos, but despite the snowstorms, the sun still usually manages to peek out for an hour or two each day. After a couple big weeks of training, it's time to focus on recovering and fine tuning the little things to prepare for World Champs. Sometimes it's hard to focus on the little things when we're traveling all over the place, so it's been nice to be in one place for an extended period of time. The staff at Hotel Kulm makes us feel at home and it's the perfect place to recover and finally fully unpack our suitcases for a couple weeks.

Hotel Kulm

I've had a lot of favorite training days since arriving in Davos. Between adventuring up the alpine hill on nordic skis with Jessie, easy skis chatting my head off and touring up all the valleys with Liz, runs around the lake, and some quality speed and interval sessions with Matt, it's hard to go wrong here. Our techs all have a couple weeks off and Matt and Jason are here as coaches, but they are also getting some much deserved down time. As a result, we are in charge of prepping our skis each day and taking care of them in between sessions. Believe it or not, it's actually (almost) a little fun to wax my own skis for a couple weeks in the winter. Oleg, our tech for Liz and me, always takes care of my skis 100% while we are on the road. I show up to training each day and my skis are waxed and ready to go and as soon as I'm done training or racing, I hand them back to him and he waxes them and puts them away. We are well taken care of and a little spoiled, so it's good to be held responsible for our own skis every once in awhile!

For my first ski in Davos, Liz, Andy, and I skied up the sunny valley, Dischma. Perfection!

Happy selfie

The view from Hotel Kulm is...not bad at all

Jessie and I hiked part way up the alpine hill on our classic skis and then made our way back down in the fresh powder. This picture captures the common theme of the ski :)

Sadie's boyfriend, Jo, is here for our break and while that means I don't get to see as much of my buddy, I'm happy to share her with him. He's a big fan of skiing downhill, but she has convinced him to try the uphill skis a couple times and I think he looks like a natural!

Photo collage from our Sophie and Jessie adventure

Nice ski up Sertig the other day

Another selfie on top of Sertig

In addition to ski related activities, we've been keeping ourselves busy by working on another music video that will hopefully air in a couple weeks. Big thanks to Jessie for taking the lead on it, choreographing a dance, and organizing filming and group dance practice. Some friends in town also got tickets to one of the local hockey games. Davos LOVES hockey and it's always fun to check out another sport and get out of the hotel for an evening. Even though there is a little break from World Cup races, we're still addicted to being sports fans and religiously follow results from World Juniors, U23s, and the alpine World Championships. With the time change, we usually wake up to exciting results from Kazakhstan and can watch the alpine world champs each evening. I'm particularly invested in World Juniors and U23s because my teammates KO, Paddy, Annie H., Annie P, and Ben are kicking butt in Kazakhstan.

Liz and Rosie sporting the latest XC fashion on the deck of the Kulm.

Okay, maybe they're actually in costume for our music video

Hockey game!

Zuzana, Jess, and me at the hockey game

That's right! Teammate and buddy, Ben Saxton, making the A final at U23s!

We have a few more days in Davos before traveling to Sweden early next week. We have a weekend of pre World Champs World Cups in Oestersund, Sweden before heading to Falun for the big event. I'm psyched to reunite with the rest of my team and REALLY psyched to see my parents, who are coming to Falun for World Champs in a couple weeks!! Thanks for following and be sure to tune into the World Cup action that starts back up next weekend!